Creating Patch Install Areas for IBM Rational Tools

Ronald D. Ross (rross@spkaa.com)

In this article we want to talk about how to create install patch areas for 7.0.1 releases of IBM Rational tools. With the advent of 7.1, there is now something called the Installation Manager, which handles matters related to install and patching very well. But for older releases, a more manual approach is called for, which can be a bit mysterious if one has not previously dealt with it. Since these older releases are still very prevalent, it’s worth looking at the details of how to create a patched install area.

The first (and obvious) thing that needs to be done is to acquire the base version of any software to be patched. These can be downloaded from IBM and usually come with a cryptic name. Here are some examples of IBM Rational tool packages:

C11QHML – ClearCase 7.0.1

C11QJML – ClearQuest 7.0.1

C11QLML – RequisitePro 7.0.1

C11R2NA – TestManager 7.0.1

In the screenshot above, we can see zip files for all the previously mentioned Rational software packages. We note that one of these (ClearQuest) has been expanded into a directory from the zip file. Our install example will be using ClearCase, so expanding the ClearCase zip file acquired from IBM (C11QHML) is then the next step:

As seen in the screenshot above, right click on the ClearCase zip file and select “Extract All…”

Click Next to begin uncompressing the zip file.

Note that the default folder into the zip file will be decompressed has the same name as the zip file itself. This is not especially useful, due to the mostly meaningless name. Edit the directory window to give the directory folder a meaningful name:

Click Next to begin the extraction.

We can see the bar graph monitoring the extraction progress, and also creating the extraction directory which is marked in red. When the extraction completes, we will see the screenshot shown next:

The file extraction is completed, uncheck the “Show extracted files” checkbox (unless you want another window opened) and click Finish. We are now ready to create an install area. First navigate down into the directory just created from the zip file:

Double click on the siteprep.exe executable to start the process. We see the resulting popup in the next screenshot.

We will create a new installation profile for ClearCase 7.0.1.12, click the New button.

Make sure that the product, IBM Rational ClearCase, is selected, then click on Select.

We will now proceed to run through all the install options, the results of which will be recorded in a “sitedef” file. This file will provide the options for future install operations. Click Next.

We now begin to run through all the install screens which may, or may not, need input when constructing the sitedef file. There isn’t a great deal to say about much of this, on each page, simply select the option(s) that make sense for your site and keep clicking Next. Minimal commentary will be offered, so at this point, click Next.

Change the network installation location to whatever fits your site and then click Next.

Decide what type of install configuration is being created and click Next.

Include or exclude whatever is needed for this particular install configuration, click Next.

Enter your site’s domain, server process, password and group. Click Next.

Again, enter the site’s registry server, region names and mail server name. Click Next.

Select the appropriate option, and click Next.

Decide how to configure case sensitivity and click Next.

Accept the defaults, or choose your own, and click Next.

Choose whether you want CCFS (ClearCase File System) enabled and click Next.

Configure start menu shortcuts and click Next.

Configure the administration folder choices and click Next.

Select the integrations needed at your site, and click Next.\

Point to your Windows Explorer context menu customation file (or not) and click Next.

Point to your ClearCase Explorer context menu customation file (or not) and click Next.

Reference any or none ClearCase Explorer customization file, and click Next.

Decide if a desktop shortcut is appropriate and click Next.

Specify the type of licensing to be used, and click Next.

Click Next and then configure (in this example) the FLEXlm licensing.

Set the port number and license server(s) and click Next.

Click Next and go to the description page.

Enter a description for this install configuration and click Next.

Enter name and location of new “sitedef” file (likely same as installation) and click Next.

If the directory does not exist, you will be prompted to create it. Again, usually what is wanted is for the network install area to be the same as where the “sitedefs” file will be created. All that is then necessary is to navigate to this location, and click on the sitedefs file shortcut (not the actual file) and the install will begin.

We have not tried specifying different locations for the network install area and the sitedefs file. If you want to experiment with this, do whatever is best for your specific situation.

This pop-up repeats what was mentioned earlier, double-click on the sitedefs file shortcut to initiate an installation.

Now that all the options have been specified for the install, we will now proceed with creating the actual network install area that we previously specified. Click Next.

Click Accept on the IBM licensing agreement.

First you will see this while the install area is validated. Then the next pop-up will appear.

This pop-up shows the progress copying new files (installing in the network area). Eventually this will complete, and the pop-up in the screenshot below will be presented.

At this point, we now have a fully configured installation area for ClearCase 7.0.1.0. Uncheck the tick-box and click Finish. You are now ready to install ClearCase 7.0.1.0 on any client machine. But that’s not all that we wanted to demonstrate in this paper, is it? What we wanted was a fully patched version of ClearCase to be available for installs. That means we need to update the newly created network install area to include the latest ClearCase patches. As of this writing, that patch level is 7.0.1.12.

As with creating an install area, the first step to installing a patch is to downloatch the patch file from IBM. Once this has been obtained, a Windows line command is needed to to install the patch onto the newly created ClearCase install area. Examples of such commands are given below for ClearCase, ClearQuest, RequisitePro, and TestManager.

msiexec /a

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\ClearCase_7.0.1.12_Win\SETUP\1033_ClearCase.msi /p

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\7.0.1.12-RATL-RCC-WIN-en-US-FP12.msp /lv*

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\CC_12.log

msiexec /a

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\ClearQuest_7.0.1.12_Win\SETUP\1033_ClearQuest.msi

/p \\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\7.0.1.12-RATL-RCQ-WIN-en-US-FP12.msp /lv*

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\CQ_12.log

msiexec /a

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\RequisitePro_7.0.1.12_Win\Setup\1033_rmbuRequisitePr

o.msi /p \\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\7.0.1.12-RATL-RRP-WIN-en-US-FP12.msp /lv*

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\RP_12.log

msiexec /a

\\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\TestManager_7.0.1.12_Win\SETUP\1033_atbuTestManag

er.msi /p \\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\7.0.1.12-RATL-TSTMGR-WIN-en-US-FP12.msp

/lv* \\europe\ccase_rls\Rational_7.0.1.12\TM_12.log

In the screenshot below, we see the new install area for ClearCase, along with the 7.0.1.12 patch bundles both outlined in red.

The following screenshot is of the Windows command line where we enter the patch install command line and initiate the patch install process. Noted in red is the Microsoft install package (1033 specifies English) which will be the object of the installation. Running the line command will initiate a series of pop-up windows which we will need to interact with.

Above we see the line command entered and the initial popup. Below, the next pop-up appears which will check for sufficient space to conduct the patch install.

When the space check completes, click Next.

Note that this is recognized as a 7.0.1.12 patch installation. Click Update to proceed.

Click Install to begin the installation of patch files onto the install area.

This bar graph displays the progress of installing the patch files.

We’re done! Click Finish to complete, and you are ready to try installing a client machine from the freshly patched install area.